Numerous industrial operations involve chemical or acid treatments of various materials. Often during such treatments, vapors or fumes are generated which contain acid droplets entrained therein. Other times, such fumes are generated in acid storage tanks or facilities used in such operations. When the storage tank's supply is diminished, it must be replenished with a fresh supply of acid. The added supply increases the pressure of the acid fumes within the tank and hence the fumes must be vented to the atmosphere.
In a typical industrial operation such as encountered in steel pickling, the steel is first rinsed with water and then treated with an acid such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) and rinsed again with water before it is stored for shipment. The acid treatment is typically carried out in shallow troughs or vats and generates copious amounts of fumes (acid droplets-laden vapors). Regardless of whether such fumes are generated in the acid storage tanks or during the acid-treatment (pickling) process, they contain considerable and harmful quantities of acids entrained therein. Stringent environmental regulations require that such fumes be treated so as to lower their acid content to an environmentally safe and acceptable level. In case of HC1-containing fumes, strict fume emission regulations require that the acid content does not exceed 30 part per million (ppm).
Present acid treatment facilities include complicated liquid circulation or recirculation systems which employ pumps and various auxiliary equipment. Unless these pumps and auxiliary equipment are fabricated from highly corrosion-resistant equipment, they will be corroded and damaged by the highly corrosive hydrochloric acid.
Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a method for the removal of acid droplets from vapors containing the same.
It is another object of this invention to provide such method whereby the acid content of the acid droplets-laden vapors is depleted to a level which meets the stringent environmental regulations.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus or a system for carrying out the aforementioned method without mechanical circulatory or recirculatory means such as pumps and the like.
The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will be more clearly comprehended from the ensuing description and the accompanying drawings.